Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xinlong Liu, Yujuan Chen, Yu Fu, Dingxi Jiang, Feiyan Gao, Zhongjie Tang, Xufei Bian, Shuang Wu, Yang Yu, Xiaoyou Wang, Jie Shen, Chong Li
Summary: Using single-cell and multilevel analyses, this study emphasizes the critical importance of the first exposure to calreticulin (CRT) in eliciting immunogenicity. The ERASION strategy, utilizing the high expression of functional proteins, including CRT, on the ER membrane, enables the targeting of tumor cells and immune effectors, promoting dendritic cell maturation and T cell infiltration, and eliciting an immunogenic effect from a nonimmunogenic chemotherapeutic drug.
Review
Immunology
Sophie Janssens, Sofie Rennen, Patrizia Agostinis
Summary: Dendritic cells play a crucial role in the cancer immunity cycle by interacting with malignant cells undergoing immunogenic cell death, leading to DC maturation and activation of antitumor immunity. This process relies on the perception and decoding of danger signals released during immunogenic cell death.
IMMUNOLOGICAL REVIEWS
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sajal Sen, Krystle Karoscik, Esther Maier, Jonathan F. Arambula
Summary: The immune system plays a vital role in maintaining homeostasis and preventing the growth of malignant cells. Immune evasion by cancer cells is a major challenge, but efforts have been made to activate the immune response through immunogenic cell death (ICD) and metal-based compounds. The development of novel ICD inducers and understanding the biological pathways associated with ICD are important for enhancing anticancer immune responses. This review provides a concise summary of these topics and discusses the early clinical evidence and future directions of ICD.
CURRENT OPINION IN CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Yun Huang, Dengshuai Wei, Bin Wang, Dongsheng Tang, Ailan Cheng, Shengjun Xiao, Yingjie Yu, Weiguo Huang
Summary: This article proposes a strategy to maximize the immunogenic cell death (ICD) effect of oxaliplatin (OXA) by combining it with nanoparticles containing a platinum (IV) prodrug (Pt(IV)-C16) and a near-infrared II (NIR-II) photothermal agent (IR1061). Under NIR-II light irradiation, these nanoparticles significantly improve the anti-cancer efficacy against triple-negative breast cancer 4T1 tumor, compared to OXA or IR1061 alone.
ACTA BIOMATERIALIA
(2023)
Review
Immunology
Guido Kroemer, Claudia Galassi, Laurence Zitvogel, Lorenzo Galluzzi
Summary: Immunogenic cell death (ICD) plays an important role in therapy and disease, as dying mammalian cells release signals that interact with the host to determine the immunological correlates of cellular stress and death. ICD is crucial in immunosurveillance and is related to strategies evolved by pathogens and cancer cells. Additionally, normal cell death can also initiate antigen-specific immune responses.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhilin Li, Xiaoqin Lai, Shiqin Fu, Long Ren, Hao Cai, Hu Zhang, Zhongwei Gu, Xuelei Ma, Kui Luo
Summary: This article reviews the use of nanostructure-based drug delivery systems (NDDSs) to enhance the effectiveness of tumor immunotherapy. By inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD) and releasing danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and tumor-associated antigens, in combination with chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, and radiotherapy, the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment can be improved, resulting in increased sensitivity to immunotherapy and reduced side effects.
Editorial Material
Oncology
Prathyusha Konda, Liubov M. Lifshits, John A. Roque, Houston D. Cole, Colin G. Cameron, Sherri A. McFarland, Shashi Gujar
Summary: A new class of ruthenium-based photosensitizers have been discovered to induce potent cytotoxicity and immunogenic cell death in melanoma cells when activated by NIR light, potentially establishing protective antitumor immunity.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Jia Wan, Xianghong Zhang, Zhihong Li, Fuhao Mo, Dongsheng Tang, Haihua Xiao, Jingcheng Wang, Guanghua Rong, Tang Liu
Summary: ROS-responsive nanoparticles with mitochondrial targeting performance were designed to induce immunogenic cell death and trigger antitumor immune responses. By enhancing ROS damage and disrupting mitochondrial redox homeostasis, the nanoparticles promote cancer cell apoptosis and antitumor immune response, thus achieving cancer immunotherapy.
ADVANCED HEALTHCARE MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xingheng Wang, Qian Li, Zhenyang Zhao, Lanlan Yu, Sichun Wang, Hong Pu, Mohsen Adeli, Li Qiu, Peng Gu, Ling Li, Chong Cheng
Summary: This study demonstrates the synthesis of a dual-functional artificial peroxidase with ferriporphyrin networks (FePorNW-DAP) that can serve as a tumor microenvironment (TME)-adaptive and ultrasound (US)-controllable reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generator for amplifying tumor immunotherapies. The FePorNW-DAP shows efficient dual-functional ROS production capabilities to combat tumor cells and amplify tumor immunotherapies. This research provides critical evidence for the induction of a strong antitumor immune response and immune memory by the proposed dual-functional artificial peroxidases, and offers essential guidance for creating high-performance and biocompatible strategies to regulate the immunosuppression TME and enhance the antitumor immune responses of breast cancer.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Junjie Zhou, Xianbin Ma, Hao Li, Derun Chen, Liang Mao, Leilei Yang, Tian Zhang, Wei Qiu, Zhigang Xu, Zhi-Jun Sun
Summary: The study introduces a tumor-specific prodrug combining tanespimycin with chlorin e6 to induce pyroptosis in a targeted manner, enhancing the response to anti-PD-1 therapy and prolonging the survival of 4T1 breast tumor-bearing mice.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jia Tan, Binbin Ding, Pan Zheng, Hao Chen, Ping'an Ma, Jun Lin
Summary: A new type of nanoadjuvant SiAl was synthesized in this study, which can significantly enhance immune response in therapeutic cancer vaccines and has potential for breast cancer treatment.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Mingxia Jiang, Jun Zeng, Liping Zhao, Mogen Zhang, Jinlong Ma, Xiuwen Guan, Weifen Zhang
Summary: The article highlights the importance of inducing immunogenic cell death in tumor cells through chemotherapy drugs, and the promising future and potential of chemo-immunotherapy in cancer treatment.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yanhua Li, Xiaohan Liu, Xia Zhang, Wei Pan, Na Li, Bo Tang
Summary: The article highlights the importance of inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD) of cancer cells and discusses strategies and inducers to trigger ICD for enhanced cancer immunotherapy. It aims to inspire readers to develop more effective ICD inducers.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Oncology
Shannon Lange, Laurens G. L. Sand, Matthew Bell, Sagar L. Patil, Deanna Langfitt, Stephen Gottschalk
Summary: We designed a chimeric cytokine receptor (GM18) that links CAR T-cell activation to MyD88 signaling. GM18 endows CAR T cells with sustained effector function in the setting of chronic antigen exposure, resulting in potent antitumor activity in preclinical solid tumor models.
Review
Cell Biology
Rianne D. W. Vaes, Lizza E. L. Hendriks, Marc Vooijs, Dirk De Ruysscher
Summary: Radiation therapy can induce immunogenic cell death and release various immunogenic factors, but the search for biomarkers predicting immunogenic cell death in tumor cells remains limited. This review summarizes the available literature on potential biomarkers of radiation-induced immunogenic cell death evaluated in cancer patients and discusses their clinical relevance.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ladislav Sivak, Vladimir Subr, Jirina Kovarova, Barbora Dvorakova, Milada Sirova, Blanka Sihova, Eva Randarova, Michal Kraus, Jakub Tomala, Martin Studenovsky, Michaela Vondrackova, Radislav Sedlacek, Petr Makovicky, Jitka Fucikova, Sarka Vosahlikova, Radek Spisek, Libor Kostka, Tomas Etrych, Marek Kovar
Summary: Repurposing drug strategy using P-RD nanomedicine has successfully identified the anticancer effects of RD on cancer cells, which has been validated in mice experiments and human cancer cell lines, making it a promising therapeutic candidate with great potential for deep preclinical investigation.
JOURNAL OF CONTROLLED RELEASE
(2021)
Article
Biology
Caleb R. Glassman, Leon Su, Sonia S. Majri-Morrison, Hauke Winkelmann, Fei Mo, Peng Li, Magdiel Perez-Cruz, Peggy P. Ho, Ievgen Koliesnik, Nadine Nagy, Tereza Hnizdilova, Lora K. Picton, Marek Kovar, Paul Bollyky, Lawrence Steinman, Everett Meyer, Jacob Piehler, Warren J. Leonard, K. Christopher Garcia
Summary: Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a pleiotropic cytokine that mediates both pro- and anti-inflammatory functions, with different sensitivities in immune cells due to cell type and activation state-dependent expression of receptors and signaling pathway components. Using structure-based design, IL-2 variants were created to titrate maximum signal strength across cell types, leading to cell type-dependent differences in gene expression. IL-2 partial agonists can be used to calibrate intrinsic differences in response thresholds across responding cell types to narrow pleiotropic actions.
Article
Biology
Jakub Tomala, Petra Weberova, Barbora Tomalova, Zuzana Jiraskova Zakostelska, Ladislav Sivak, Jirina Kovarova, Marek Kovar
Summary: The IL-2 and JES6-1 mAb complexes selectively expand CD25(+) cells and T-reg cells, but also increase sensitivity to LPS shock in mice, potentially raising safety concerns for their use in immunotherapy.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Libor Kostka, Ladislav Sivak, Vladimir Subr, Jirina Kovarova, Milada Sirova, Blanka Rihova, Radislav Sedlacek, Tomas Etrych, Marek Kovar
Summary: The derivative of protease inhibitor ritonavir (RD) was found to be a potent P-gp inhibitor and cancerostatic drug. In this study, high-molecular-weight HPMA copolymer conjugates with a PAMAM dendrimer core bearing both doxorubicin (Dox) and RD (Star-RD + Dox) were designed to increase the circulation half-life and maximize simultaneous delivery of Dox and RD into the tumor. It was found that Star-RD + Dox exhibited higher cytostatic and proapoptotic activities compared to other treatments in vitro, and also inhibited STAT3 signaling in vivo.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Jana Kousalova, Milada Sirova, Libor Kostka, Vladimir Subr, Jirina Kovarova, Katerina Behalova, Martin Studenovsky, Marek Kovar, Tomas Etrych
Summary: This study describes the design, synthesis, physicochemical and biological characteristics of water-soluble copolymer conjugates bearing actinonin for advanced drug delivery and inhibition of metastatic spread. The developed nanosystems showed favorable drug release kinetics and effectively inhibited the metastatic spread of cancer cells, highlighting their potential clinical application.
NANOMEDICINE-NANOTECHNOLOGY BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Nela Klimova, Jana Holubova, Gaia Streparola, Jakub Tomala, Ludmila Brazdilova, Ondrej Stanek, Ladislav Bumba, Peter Sebo
Summary: The pertussis toxin PT inhibits migration of infected dendritic cells from the lungs to the draining lymph nodes, delaying the induction of adaptive serum antibody responses to infection. This suggests that PT action allows time for B. pertussis proliferation on the airway mucosa to facilitate transmission among humans.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Martin Studenovsky, Anna Rumlerova, Jirina Kovarova, Barbora Dvorakova, Ladislav Sivak, Libor Kostka, Daniel Berdar, Tomas Etrych, Marek Kovar
Summary: Mebendazole and other benzimidazole antihelmintics possess antitumour activity, but their poor water-solubility limits their bioavailability. A HPMA copolymer-based conjugate with mebendazole was developed to improve solubility and tumor accumulation. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed significant antitumour activity, which was further improved when combined with IL-2 and anti-IL-2 mAb.
Article
Cell Biology
Derek VanDyke, Marcos Iglesias, Jakub Tomala, Arabella Young, Jennifer Smith, Joseph A. Perry, Edward Gebara, Amy R. Cross, Laurene S. Cheung, Arbor G. Dykema, Brian T. Orcutt-Jahns, Tereza Henclova, Jaroslav Golias, Jared Balolong, Luke M. Tomasovic, David Funda, Aaron S. Meyer, Drew M. Pardoll, Joanna Hester, Fadi Issa, Christopher A. Hunter, Mark S. Anderson, Jeffrey A. Bluestone, Giorgio Raimondi, Jamie B. Spangler
Summary: Researchers have developed a fusion protein called F5111 immunocytokine (IC) that selectively activates and expands Tregs, providing a potential treatment for autoimmune diseases. This approach overcomes the limitations of traditional IL-2 treatment by preferentially stimulating Tregs while limiting off-target immune cell activation.
Article
Immunology
Zuzana Antosova, Nada Podzimkova, Jakub Tomala, Katerina Augustynkova, Katerina Sajnerova, Eva Nedvedova, Milada Sirova, Guy de Martynoff, David Bechard, Ulrich Moebius, Marek Kovar, Radek Spisek, Irena Adkins
Summary: SOT101, a potential clinical candidate for cancer treatment, activates NK cells and CD8(+) T cells and enhances their cytotoxicity against tumor cells. When used in combination with approved monoclonal antibodies, it increases the killing of tumor cells. In an animal model, the combination of SOT101 and Daratumumab showed the strongest anti-tumor effect, supporting further investigation of this combination in clinical studies.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Maros Huliciak, Lada Biedermanova, Daniel Berdar, Stepan Herynek, Lucie Kolarova, Jakub Tomala, Pavel Mikulecky, Bohdan Schneider
Summary: We used cell-free ribosome display and cell-based yeast display selection to develop specific protein binders for the extracellular domain of the human interleukin 9 receptor alpha (IL-9R alpha). By combining the strengths of ribosome display and yeast display, we optimized the protocol to produce highly specific binders to the target, including selectivity for common proteins and potential competitors. The binders were trained from DNA libraries of two protein scaffolds and proved effective for the medically relevant molecular target.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Libor Kostka, Lenka Kotrchova, Eva Randarova, Carolina A. Ferreira, Iva Malatova, Hye Jin Lee, Aeli P. Olson, Jonathan W. Engle, Marek Kovar, Weibo Cai, Milada Sirova, Tomas Etrych
Summary: nanomedicines are being developed as an improved therapeutic option with reduced side effects, and this study introduces tailored nanosystems for the treatment of solid tumors or hematological malignancies. The relationship between the structure of the nanosystem and its distribution in the body was evaluated through independent assessments of the polymer carrier and drug pharmacokinetics. The results showed enhanced tumor accumulation of the polymer carriers in mice with solid tumors, as well as significant accumulation of doxorubicin bound to the polymer carriers in specific tumor types.
JOURNAL OF CONTROLLED RELEASE
(2023)
Article
Biology
Oksana Tsyklauri, Tereza Chadimova, Veronika Niederlova, Jirina Kovarova, Juraj Michalik, Iva Malatova, Sarka Janusova, Olha Ivashchenko, Helene Rossez, Ales Drobek, Hana Vecerova, Virginie Galati, Marek Kovar, Ondrej Stepanek
Summary: In this study, it was identified that Tregs limit the availability of IL-2, thereby suppressing the formation of a previously uncharacterized subset of antigen-stimulated KILR CD8(+) effector T cells. These KILR CD8(+) T cells exhibit superior cell-killing abilities and can be induced by the administration of agonistic IL-2 immunocomplexes. This research has potential implications for immunotherapy targeting these cells in humans.
Article
Cell Biology
Peter Holicek, Iva Truxova, Jana Rakova, Cyril Salek, Michal Hensler, Marek Kovar, Milan Reinis, Romana Mikyskova, Josef Pasulka, Sarka Vosahlikova, Hana Remesova, Iva Valentova, Daniel Lysak, Monika Holubova, Petr Kaspar, Jan Prochazka, Lenka Kasikova, Radek Spisek, Lorenzo Galluzzi, Jitka Fucikova
Summary: While type I interferon (IFN) plays a key role in fighting viral infections, recent data indicates that it also promotes cancer immunosurveillance and enhances the effectiveness of antineoplastic agents. Researchers have discovered that malignant blasts in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) release type I IFN through a Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3)-dependent mechanism. Although immunosuppressive mechanisms hinder the anticancer immune response stimulated by type I IFN in these patients, it has been found to have direct cytostatic, cytotoxic, and chemosensitizing effects on AML cells and stem cells, as well as prognostic value in AML patients.
CELL DEATH & DISEASE
(2023)